Eliminated
By Gerardo Bolong
The weather outside was frightful, and the result was far from delightful for the John F. Kennedy Catholic High School girls soccer team on Saturday, November 11th.
In the wind-swept chill and rain at Highline Memorial Stadium in Burien, Skyline scored twice in the final 12 minutes to wash away Kennedy, 2-0, in a Class 3A state quarterfinal game.
By winning, the Spartans qualified for the semifinal round at Harry E. Lang Stadium in Lakewood. The Lancers suffered their only loss of a 15-1-4 season - - including an 11-0-3 Seamount League season.
"I thought we had a great first half," Kennedy coach Doug Stamnes said. "We needed to go harder to the ball in the second half."
Spacing well and ground passing crisply, JFK attacked aggressively and adroitly to control the ball most of the first half. The Spartans began to force the issue with 12 minutes left in the first half and continued the deluge the rest of the game.
Like people quickly bulwarking levees to hold back flooding waters, Kennedy's junior goal keeper Ashley Engel and her teammmates fought off the rising tide of the Skyline offensive flow in the pouring rain. The Lancers spent most of the time trying to steal the ball away from the Spartans.
"When the weather was at its worst, we were at our best," Skyline coach Don Braman stated.
In the game's 52nd minute, senior forward Michelle Abbott scored the first goal of the game from the right side with an 8-yard kick to the far post of the net off an assist from Emily Frankland.
The Skyline frontline continued pushing the ball up on Kennedy's beleaguered defense, setting up a number of good looks on the goal, until Class 3A KingCo player of the year McKenzie Barney scored an unassisted goal in the 78th minute to close out the Spartan second half assertivenesss.
"Our game is keeping control with passes and playing possession," junior Lancer defender Stefani Vert explained. "In the second half, we didn't get to the ball fast enough."
Junior goal keeper Kristin Abbott, the sister of Michelle Abbott, saved four shots for her 11th Spartan shutout.
With only one player graduating, Kennedy will return an experienced squad for a try at its seventh consecutive state entry next season. In 2002, the fighting Lancers won the state championship.
